Tag: Software

Neues aus der API-Werkstatt

Posted on by Andreas Bräu

Nach einige Zeit hat es mal wieder einen Versionssprung bei der Freifunk-API gegeben: Unsere Freifunk-API steht ab sofort in Version 0.3.0 bereit. Bestehende API-Dateien sollten schnell aktualisiert werden, da sich einige nicht rückwärtskompatible Änderungen ergeben haben.

Neuerungen und Änderungen der Spezifikation

    • Services hinzugefügt, netz-interne Dienste können hier angegeben werden. Später soll aus diesen Daten eine freifunk-weite Serviceübersicht entstehen
    • Timeline hinzugefügt, hier können Communities wichtige Meilensteine ihrer Geschichte eintragen (z.B. Gründung, Neugründung, wichtige Ereignisse wie Vereingründung oder Rekordstände bei Nutzern/Routern). Mit diesen Daten können schöne Zeitstrahlen erstellt werden
    • TLD hinzugefügt, damit Communities die von ihnen genutzten Top Level Domains (.ffhh, ffl, …) benennen können. Die Informationen können genutzt werden, um die DNS-Konfiguration über die eigene Community hinaus nutzen zu können
    • Kalender-Sektion entfernt, durch Feed vom Typ ics ersetzt. Eine eigene Kalenderspezifikation erwies sich als zu komplex. Mit ics-Files kann man leicht übergreifende Kalender erstellen 
  • Country als Feld aufgenommen
  • Pattern zur Validierung von Eingaben für diese Felder eingeführt: urls, irc, twitter, email, facebook, ip-Adressen
  • Zeitstempel von Unix-Timestamp auf ISO8601-Format umgestellt
  • Netzwerke in CIDR-Notation
  • API Generator validiert

Änderungen am Generator

  • Die Eingabefelder wurden umsortiert. Pflichtfelder verstecken sich nicht mehr hinter eingeklappten Elementen
  • Der Generator kann API-Dateien validieren. Entweder wählt man seine Datei aus dem Auswahlfeld über dem Textfeld oder man kopiert den Inhalt einer Datei in das Textfeld
  • Bei der Validierung werden die Daten direkt in die Formularfelder kopiert, so dass sie danach gleich bearbeitet werden können
  • Gültigkeit von API-Dateien zeigt der Generator farblich an
  • Das Ergebnis der Validation zeigt die problematischen Felder an, man muss sie nicht mehr erraten
  • Zeitpunkt der letzten Änderung und API-Version setzt der Generator automatisch beim der Erstellung, wenn die Eingaben gültig sind

Weitere Änderungen

  • die zusammengefassten API-Dateien legen wir mit jeder Erzegung gesondert ab, um später die Entwicklungsgeschichte verfolgen zu können (Anzahl Communities, Anzahl Router, …)
  • Es gibt mehrere Ansätze, z.B. die Anzahl der Knotennummern in den API-Files automatisch aktualisieren zu lassen. Solche Scripte und Anleitungen sammeln wir im Github-Repository common.api.freifunk.net 

Die gesamte Änderungsgeschichte ist Github-Repository aufzufinden. Fehler, neue Anforderungen oder Anregungen meldet ihr bitte auch im Github unter “issues”.

Freifunk Google Summer of Code 2014

Posted on by Mario Behling

We are excited that Freifunk has been accepted as a Google Summer of Code Mentor organization again in 2014.

We are now looking for interesting student projects. Participating community networks and projects have already put up a list of ideas on the wiki.

Students can apply for example for projects developing packages for OpenWrt (the basis of the freifunk firmware) extending its functionality or other useful network tools such as management server tools, graphic interfaces for existing tools, map extensions, p2p tools that take routing into consideration, implementing wlan sleeping modes, routing protocols and more.

The deadline for student applications is 21 March: 19:00 UTC. We recommend to start your application now. You also need to add an enrolement form into the system.

 

Freifunk Google Summer of Code Timeline

21 March:

19:00 UTC

Student application deadline.

Interim Period:

Mentoring organizations review and rank student proposals; where necessary, mentoring organizations may request further proposal detail from the student applicant.

7 April:

Mentoring organizations should have requested slots via their profile in Melange by this point.

9 April:

Slot allocations published to mentoring organizations

Interim Period:

Slot allocation trades happen amongst organizations. Mentoring organizations review and rank student proposals; where necessary, mentoring organizations may request further proposal detail from the student applicant.

15 April:

First round of de-duplication checks happens; organizations work together to try to resolve as many duplicates as possible.

18 April:

  1. All mentors must be signed up and all student proposals matched with a mentor – 07:00 UTC

  2. Student acceptance choice deadline.

  3. IRC meeting to resolve any outstanding duplicate accepted students – 19:00 UTC #gsoc (organizations must send a delegate to represent them in this meeting regardless of if they are in a duplicate situation before the meeting.)

21 April:

19:00 UTC

Accepted student proposals announced on the Google Summer of Code 2014 site.

Community Bonding Period:

Students get to know mentors, read documentation, get up to speed to begin working on their projects.

19 May:

  1. Students begin coding for their Google Summer of Code projects;

  2. Google begins issuing initial student payments provided tax forms are on file and students are in good standing with their communities.

Work Period:

Mentors give students a helping hand and guidance on their projects.

23 June:

19:00 UTC

Mentors and students can begin submitting mid-term evaluations.

27 June:

19:00 UTC

  1. Mid-term evaluations deadline;

  2. Google begins issuing mid-term student payments provided passing student survey is on file.

Work Period:

Mentors give students a helping hand and guidance on their projects.

11 August:

Suggested ‘pencils down’ date. Take a week to scrub code, write tests, improve documentation, etc.

18 August:

19:00 UTC

Firm ‘pencils down’ date. Mentors, students and organization administrators can begin submitting final evaluations to Google.

22 August:

19:00 UTC

  1. Final evaluation deadline

  2. Google begins issuing student and mentoring organization payments provided forms and evaluations are on file.

22 August: 20:00 UTC

Students can begin submitting required code samples to Google

25 August:

Final results of Google Summer of Code 2014 announced

Links

* GSoC Page: https://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/org2/google/gsoc2014/freifunk

* Idea Page: http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

Neue Version des Freifunk-API-JSON-Generator released

Posted on by Mario Behling

Ralf hat eine neue Version des “API-JSON-Generator” für die Freifunk-Api released.

Es gab… hier eine Diskussion ob man nicht bestehende Daten aus JSONs in das Formular übernehmen könnte und das hab’ ich gerade mal umgesetzt.  (Daneben auch noch ein bisschen Code-Refactoring …)

Der Code ist verfügbar auf http://freifunk-ffm.github.io/api.freifunk.net/generator/

Die Freifunk-API ermöglicht Communities automatisch in Diensten wie der Freifunk-Karte (Map) oder dem freifunk.net-Feed-Aggregator auf der Startseite angezeigt zu werden. Besucher von freifunk.net erhalten somit einen einfachen Überblick über Communities und lokale Kontaktmöglichkeiten.

Der Api-Generator unterstützt Communities bei der Erstellung der für die API benötigten JSON-Dateinen mit Informationen über die Community und Ansprechpartner.

Der API File Generator wird unter http://ja.ishalt.so/ffapi bereit gestellt. Hier werden die notwendigen Daten eingetragen, aus dem Ergebnisfenster auf der Website kopiert und lokal auf dem Computer in eine Datei gespeichert. Der Unix-Timecode [Unixzeit Wikipedia] stellt sicher, dass stets die neueste Version mit Informationen einer Community zusammengetragen wird.

Die Datei kann nun im eigenen Webspace (Wiki, Website, Blog etc.) abgelegt werden und der Link in das Verzeichnis auf github hier eingetragen werden. Das Verzeichnis auf github besteht aus einer Zuordnung von Communitynamen und URL zu den bereitgestellten Daten. Die dezentrale Struktur bietet den Communities eine einfache Möglichkeit, eigene Daten selbst aktuell zu halten. Die aktuellen Daten werden in regelmässigen Abständen von der im github-Verzeichnis angegebenen URL heruntergeladen.

 

Links

* Freifunk API File Generator http://ja.ishalt.so/ffapi

* Repository https://github.com/freifunk/api.freifunk.net

* Link deiner Community auf Github hinzufügen: https://github.com/freifunk/api.freifunk.net/blob/master/directory/directory.json

EFF: Mesh Networking, Good. Overbroad Patents, Bad. Help Us Protect Mesh Networking.

Posted on by Reto

Die Electronic Frontier Foundation bittet um Mithilfe in Bezug auf Mesh-Patente. Die EFF sieht ein großes Problem in bestimmten Patenten, die Einfluss auf verbreitete Mesh-Protokolle (wie das von Freifunk entwickelte B.A.T.M.A.N.-Protokoll) haben könnten:

Wireless Mesh Networking is still in its nascent stages, and the innovations and experimentation of the open source community are playing a vital role in advancing the technology. However, there has also been significant proprietary and military interest in the technology, and companies are seeking patents in many areas of WMN already explored by the open source community. We unfortunately know what can happen when overbroad patents get granted—the rise of patent trolls, lawsuits that can threaten growing businesses, and threats that target entire areas of technology. We don’t want to see that happen to mesh networking.

We have identified several patent applications that we believe particularly threaten the free development of mesh networking technology. There is a danger that these patents, if granted, will lock up the basic mesh network infrastructure and restrict advancement of and access to the technology.

Die EFF bittet nun um Mithilfe auf der Suche nach sogenanntem Stand der Technik (Prior Art), um die Patente zu Fall zu bringen:

Which is why we need your help. We are again partnering with Ask Patents so you can help us identify the best prior art to reign in these applications. While prior art for issued patents must date back many years, these are recently filed applications for which relatively recent publications may be helpful. Look at each “Request for Prior Art” we post to learn the exact priority date.

Working together we can protect the mesh networking community from overbroad, illegitimate patents that threaten to stifle innovation and access to technologies that preserve personal freedoms.

Copyright-Hinweis: Der Artikel von Julie Samuels steht unter einer Creative Commons-Attribution (CC-BY 3.0)-Lizenz.

Cross-post aus dem Blog “Offene  Netze und Recht“.

Erstes Release für Freifunk-Bielefeld

Posted on by mwarning

Nach längerer Entwicklungszeit haben wir endlich die erste Firmware-Version (0.1) für unsere Freifunk-Bielefeld Gruppe fertig. Die Firmware baut auf batman-adv (2013.1.0), fastd (7) und auf OpenWRT (Attitude Adjustment) auf und wurde mit dem Ziel entwickelt eine simple und möglichst dezentrale Konfiguration zu bieten. Ein Router muss nur mit der Firmware bespielt werden und benötigt ansonsten nur Strom um sich sich mit gleichartigen Routern in Reichweite zu verbinden. Eine weitere Konfiguration ist nicht nötig aber natürlich möglich.

Die Firmware wurde so konfiguriert, dass es (fast) keinen routerspezifischen Code gibt und mehrere Wlan-Karten (2.4/5Ghz) unterstützt werden. Jeder Router hat eine öffentliche Statusseite mit dem Namen des Routers, der Anzahl der Nachbarn und einer Liste von alternativen Gateways. Über eine Web-GUI können sehr vielfälltige Einstellmöglichkeiten wie z.B. das Konfigurieren einzelner Ports, eines privaten WLAN-Netzes oder einer Splash-Seite vorgenommen werden.

Wer also in Bielefeld oder Umgebung wohnt kann gerne einen Router aufstellen. Wir helfen dabei auch gerne und laden dazu jeden Dienstag Abend in den Hackerspace Bielefeld ein.

Natürlich haben wir noch eine offizielle Release-Ankündigung, fertige Images, eine Freifunkkarte und eine Seite mit Stichpunkten zu technischen Details.

Frohes Maschen,

die Freifunk-Bielefeld Gruppe 🙂

Node Database and Map Server Yaffmap: Yet Another Freifunk Map

Posted on by Mario Behling
yaffmap is a project from Dennis Bartsch from Freifunk Berlin, which he started with a friend. It is called yaffmap. It got its name because at the beginning of the project we had many mapservers in Berlin and so it started as yet another approach for a Freifunk map. 
 
yaffmap – screenshot
 
The intention was to make a server that not just produces points and lines (nodes and their links) but to gather all information that might help to understand why a link is as bad as it is. This includes to gather wireless scan results, the effective rate chosen/calculated by the wireless driver to a specific neighbour and so on. Furthermore it had to be independent from the routing-protocol and its daemons (but needs it to gather useful info) and the IP version (or even no IP version for RPs like batman) and had to be able to upload and store data from multiple routing protocols on the same node. In order to sample so much information we went the route of scripting an agent for the map-server which runs on the nodes gathering the information and uploading it through a JSON interface to the server. For link-state-protocols like OLSR we even implemented the upload of the global topology to the server, which gave us some headache. From the beginning on the need for decentralized operation was stressed, so replication between the servers was implemented and any community which wants can have their own map data server. Moreover they cleary wanted the datacollection/storage to be independent from the frontend the map user is presented. In Berlin everytime a new map came along and an old one was gone we saw huge ammounts of data simply disappear. So the server only provides a SOAP interface for UIs and other services to use to get map data. The representation of a node in the database ist best seen on a graphic. Dennis uploaded it to imageshack, see [1]. A little bit of documentation is found under [2], but wasn’t thoroughly updated after we left concept stage.
 
We got to the point where the agent (bunch of shell/AWK) for the nodes runs on openWRT (best with madwifi and ath9k/ath5k) with olsrd (other routing daemons simply need scripts for data gathering, agent is held modular), uploades many useful information to the server (or another if the first does not respond; multiple can be configured) using JSON, where it gets stored correctly into a SQL database and replicated to other servers and provided through a SOAP interface. The agent even is already provided as a package in the respected PBerg Freifunk Firmware. There also exists a ‘proof-of-concept’ implementation for a map frontend, see [3]. The code is hosted on github as seen und [4]. Because of the frontend development got stuck the frontend SOAP interface is not very sophisticated nor much tested as is the frontend itself.
 
The result is a database which can answer more complex question to the mesh engineer or software developer. Maybe you want to know the average effective rate on all 11n interfaces or all 5GHz interfaces? Or you might be interested in the average ETX on different channels in a certain geographic area. Or you want to compare how different routing daemons evaluate the quality of a certain link. Maybe you even want to draw a noise map. Or wouldn’t it be interesting to see the correlation between the effective rate of a wifi link and the metrics which result in the routing daemons? Because the node data includes a ‘misc’ field through which any kind of node id or statistics could be stored/sent this is can even be integrated into existing community portals.
 
 

International Community Map Project and Node Database

Posted on by Mario Behling
One of the things every community would like to see are maps of their network. There are many initiatives and map projects around, but how much more progress could we make, if we work together? This is why a group of free networks contributors started a group to work together on a common project. We started a mailing list to coordinate efforts and welcome everyone who would like to collaborate: https://lists.funkfeuer.at/mailman/listinfo/interop-dev
 
The current goal is to define a basis for a common map. We are looking at different map solutions and try to find out how we can merge the best of each into one. The best approach seems to be a modular system. In the following three great projects of different communities.
 
Nodeshot comes from the community in Italy and is widely being used there (map.ninux.org). The main developer is Federico Capoano. The goal of the Django application is to have “a nice snapshot of your wireless community network”. Nodeshot is a web tool for wireless community network. It allows members to add their node and to share and manage information about their configurations like devices, ip addresses, wireless parameters etc. In this way, newcomers can easily contact/connect with them. Internal scripts will update the topology and retrieve nodes information via snmp, or parsing routing information given by olsr, batman or whatever. It is super-fast, nice and easy to use. It rises from the ashes of WNMap (sourceforge.net/projects/wnmap/), powered by django, released under GPLv3 and tested inside the Ninux wireless community network (wiki.ninux.org). How to install: A basic guide on how to setup nodeshot for your community is available here: wiki.ninux.org/InstallNodeshot
 
Nodewatcher, another Django based application was started in Slowenia by Mitar. Its main goal is the development of an open source network planning, deployment, monitoring and maintanance platform. The project is divided into multiple components:
* node telemetry provider: A simple shell script that is accessible via HTTP interface and is used for node status data acquisition that is performed by the data collection system. Its role is similar to the one of SNMP, however it uses less resources (CPU-wise and, mostly, when it comes to memory and flash space). Our firmware has this preinstalled, others can follow these instructions to install it.
* data collection system : A daemon written in Python that periodically collects data regarding the OLSR topology, active HNAs, node telemetry and performs active reachability tests for visible nodes. Using rrdtool it can then generate graphs that are used by the web interface.
* web interface: A web-based application, written in Python and using the Django framework. It is used by the users to monitor the status of the network and individual nodes and by the node owners to manage their nodes.
* firmware image generator: A daemon that handles per-node configuration and firmware image generation via the OpenWrt buildroot using our custom firmware. It receives requests from the web interface. Live version We use nodewatcher in wlan slovenija network (this is why we are developing it), so you can see a live version of nodewatcher for real deployed network here
 
yaffmap is a project from Dennis Bartsch from Freifunk Berlin. He is working on an implementation of a node database he started with a friend. It is called yaffmap. It got its name because at the beginning of the project we had many mapservers in Berlin and so it started as yet another approach for a Freifunk map. The intention was to make a server that not just produces points and lines (nodes and their links) but to gather all information that might help to understand why a link is as bad as it is. This includes to gather wireless scan results, the effective rate chosen/calculated by the wireless driver to a specific neighbour and so on. Furthermore it had to be independent from the routing-protocol and its daemons (but needs it to gather useful info) and the IP version (or even no IP version for RPs like batman) and had to be able to upload and store data from multiple routing protocols on the same node. In order to sample so much information we went the route of scripting an agent for the map-server which runs on the nodes gathering the information and uploading it through a JSON interface to the server. For link-state-protocols like OLSR we even implemented the upload of the global topology to the server, which gave us some headache. From the beginning on I stressed the need for decentralized operation, so replication between the servers was implemented and any community which wants can have their own map data server. 
 

Freifunk Google Summer of Code: Guifi.net and QMP

Posted on by Mario Behling

Hakais has put up some info about student projects that were accepted as Freifunk Google Summer of Code projects and which are taken care by Guifi.net. Two students involved in Guifi.net have been accepted for the Gsoc 2012.

Google Summer of Code is a global program that offers students stipends to write code for open source projects. We have worked with the open source community to identify and fund exciting projects for the upcoming summer. One of these projects is named Guifi.net integration for QMP system, which has been applied by Joel Espunya and mentored by Pau Escrich. The main objective of it is to provide an easy way to use the QMP Mesh firmware inside the Guifi.net community network. (http://guifi.net/en/node/47699)

More info on the projects:

State of the art

The main purpose of QMP (Quick Mesh Project) is to provide an open and free software solution for the quick deployment of a WiFi network based on Mesh/MANET technology. It is focused to be useful mainly in the wireless community network. It is based on OpenWRT Linux and it is completely OpenSource.

The QMP project was drafted by Guifi.net (http://guifi.net/en) active members during year 2010. It was started on the beginnings of 2011 thanks to the funding of a local fundation named puntCat (http://www.fundacio.cat/en_index.html). This funding was ended on december 2011. However the project development still alive by a volunteers team.

  • Mesh Network

Strictly speaking, a Mesh network is one where all nodes (participants) are routers, meaning that all the nodes accept and forward packets from other nodes according to the routing rules. Thanks to this property the physical topology of the network is only restricted by the need of all nodes to be connected through at least one link.

  • Community Network

A community network is a network made and maintained by the same participants. Unlike the model used by the global telecommunication companies (which are business-focused), each user is owner of his stretch following the philosophy make-it-yourself. Using some agreements and organizations (e.g web site) they are able to connect with neighbours, neighbours of the neighbours and so on.

Project description

  • Summary

The objective of the project is to provide a software solution to easy integrate the Guifi.net characteristics into the QMP system.

  • Why this is needed

Currently QMP is a working system, that can be used to easy deploy a Mesh Network but there are several missing features. One of them is the integration with the Guifi.net community. It can also be used as a template for the integration of other Network Communities like Freifunk, Funkfeuer, AWMN, etc.

Die Augsburger Freifunkkiste

Posted on by Mario Behling

Super Hack von Freifunk Augsburg. Zigarrenkiste + Display + Router + modifiziertes Lcd4Linux-Paket = Die Augsburger Freifunkkiste.

“Ich hab heut mal nen Router und Display in eine alte Zigarrenkiste gebaut und das passte da wunderbar rein. Das Display ist von Pearl und kostete da gerade mal 2,90€, die Routerstation lag hier noch so rum. Zusammen gibt das ein recht nettes Austellungsstück… Um das Display anzusteuern wird ein modifiziertes Lcd4Linux-Paket benutzt. Irimi hat dazu im Openwrt Forum eine ausführliche Anleitung geschrieben: Digital Photo Frame as OpenWrt display howto. Für Freifunk hab ich ne angepasste lcd4linux.conf geschrieben, die zwei WLAN-Karten anzeigt. Das kann man hier Downloaden: lcd4linux für Freifunk (http://augsburg.freifunk.net/blog/show/archive/2012/Maerz/13/die_augsburger_freifunkkiste.html)”

Freifunk.net and Ninux.org accepted as Google Summer of Code Mentor Organizations

Posted on by Mario Behling

Freifunk.net and Ninux.org have been accepted as mentor organizations for the Google Summer of Code 2012. It is fantastic news that the growing international free networks community is now represented by two organizations in the study program.

If you are looking for more information on how to participate get in touch with your local wireless community or introduce your ideas on the wiki or Wlanware mailing list. People on the list will direct you to specific subprojects and contact points if needed.

Freifunk.net is an umbrella organization for wlan networks and community projects around the world and welcomes student applications for software tools to build and enhance free networks including:

* projects for routing protocols like OLSR, B.A.T.M.A.N. or other freely licensed protocols

* firmwares for routers and software for network devices

* software for network specific content creation like network CMS’

* any other network related software project

If you are a student there are important links to follow:

* Idea Page: http://wiki.freifunk.net/Ideas

* Student Check List: http://wiki.freifunk.net/Student_Check_List

* Mailing List http://freifunk.net/mailman/listinfo/wlanware

* Freifunk GSoC Page http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/org/show/google/gsoc2012/freifunk

* Google Open Source Programs: http://socghop.appspot.com

There is an info day on March 15 in Rome. You can also meet many contributors to the community at the battle of the mesh in Athens from March 26-April 1: http://battlemesh.org/BattleMeshV5